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Of my (almost) lost culinary skills

The other day I was watching the FRIENDS episode in which Monica made candies for her neighbours as a sweet gesture and a first step towards knowing them (7th season). In one of the scenes, Chandler asks her whether the reason for her becoming a chef was to make people like her. And she didn't answer that.

I used to cook a lot a few years back. Slowly that practise declined because I got more busy with the research and thesis. I still did cook sometimes whenever it became a matter of life and death. e.g. Those days (of the famous 'sleeping sickness') when I slept for 15-16 hours and woke up finally at 2 am. A bowl of khichdi, vegetable rice or tehri, suji ka halwa used to be the frequently cooked items, with the last one strictly for pampering myself. But this 'need-based-cooking' failed to give the usual satisfaction or joy which I used to feel earlier.

And I realize that it does make a difference when you cook for somebody else apart from yourself. Appreciation is just a part of it. I can't explain the actual feeling...but it is something which cannot be compared to anything else. I remember almost all the comments people have made after having alu paratha, chhole, alu-matar, fruit custard, sewiyan, kheer...cooked by me. Not all of them were flattering but i still remember them.

Senthil one of those 'rare' negative comments were made by you. Remember? And Pavi, you remember the day we had plain dal and rice on a sunday evening? Angie I remember your face after you had that khichdi. :)

I miss those days.

The place where I am staying these days doesn't have cooking facility. I wish I got a chance to sharpen those skills once again and revive the long-lost feeling of joy. I wish...

On a happier note, since last few months I have been lucky enough to feel a different kind of joy... the one you get when somebody else cooks for you. Besan ka halwa, homemade chocolate, soya-roll, pasta.... Missing you buddy. I want that chocolate with more peanuts. :)

The moral of this post: I need somebody to either cook for me or let me cook for him/her. :)

"It is not the mountains we conquer but ourselves."
-Edmund Hillary
Two years back, when I had set out on my first trek in the Himalayas, I did not know what I was getting into. It began as a quest, a search for the place that I was dreaming about for the last few years. Valley of Flowers in Uttarakhand did turn out to be straight out of my dream and I still cannot believe it. I remember sitting on that large asymmetrical rock for more than an hour, looking at the snow-clad mountains and scribbling in my diary as the cool wind blew in my face and the sun tried its best to warm my fingers.
Less than a year later, I went back to the mountains and it was then that I realized that I was meant to go back, not once or twice or thrice, I just have to be there every once in a while. May be that recurring dream had a bigger purpose than calling me to the Valley of Flowers. May be someone up there knew that it was just a beginning. And now that it has started, it shall go on till my…

I was talking to this friend after a long time and the first two questions he asked me were, 'What movie did you watch last weekend?' and 'Where are you traveling to next?'. I refused to answer his questions till he first asked me how I was. We laughed and he said that he keeps seeing my updates on movies and travel and wonders when he will find time to do that.

I have always loved to travel. I remember once my parents asked my brother and me to make a wishlist of things that we wanted. I had added 'Trip to Delhi' to that list. Then came a time when all the focus was on board exams and competitive exams, and the joy of traveling was forgotten because it mostly meant going to a new city to give some exam.
It all restarted once I came to Mumbai, 13 years back. Before I landed in this city I had turned into a shy, timid girl whose friends used to help her cross the road and get a rickshaw for her so that she doesn't have to talk to the rickshaw-wala. I can…

About Me

A mischievous child who grew up experimenting on her sibling and ended up manipulating mice. In the course of growing up the area of interest changed from psychology to immunology. Exists in this field coz of love for science. But loves other things too like writing, sketching and painting. Would like to do something which combines all her major interests.